Panorama

Frederick Noronha Some people promote themselves. Others do a little to make their work visible. There are still others who feel embarrassed about talking of their work. Bonaventure D’Pietro clearly belongs to the last category. A small-built man, a quiet type and a most modest personality, D’Pietro, his preferred nome d’plume though born as Boaventura Pedro Fernandes, was the kind …

Gopalkrishna Gandhi Now that the Supreme Court has decided that the Ram temple will be built on the Ayodhya site, and a mosque is to come up on an alternative site of five acres in “a prominent place” in Ayodhya, the right thing to do is what S Radhakrishnan advised: dirgham pasyatu, ma hrasvam (Look far ahead, be not shortsighted). …

Maneka Sanjay Gandhi I have just returned from an amazing assembly of a 100 very special people with visionary ideas, inventions and research who gathered at the request of Alexander and Nicole Gratovsky at Delphi, Greece. The Gratovskys are Russian anthropologists who are using their wealth to explore the nature of consciousness and the purpose of mindfulness. They believe, on …

Shalini Gupta For someone who has been counselling runners and sportspersons for a decade, Divya Parashar once herself battled with a host of medical conditions like obesity, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. A PhD in rehabilitation psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Delhi-based Parashar took to running in 2009 to maintain fitness. Initially training to run …

Amrit Mathur Searching for answers to challenges threatening it, cricket’s different formats are looking to reboot, upgrade, innovate and reinvent. Test cricket, in commercial ICU for some time, needs a major makeover. Following others, India has accepted night games hoping the change in ball colour will ensure cricket’s purest form remains in the pink of health. A late afternoon start …

SANCHITA SHARMA People newly diagnosed with Type 2 or adult-onset diabetes, which affects roughly seven per cent of all adults in India, over the past five years now have a chance of reversing the disease using very low calorie diet or a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet to lower body weight and improve glucose control. Being overweight is the biggest risk factor …

Two paintings up for auction in New York highlight a growing interest in artificial intelligence-created works – a technique that could transform how art is made and viewed but is also stirring up passionate debate. The art world was stunned last year when an AI painting was sold for $432,500, and auctioneers are keen to further test demand for computer-generated …

Luis Dias “As a species, why are we willing to kill, exploit, or willfully disregard people we’ve never met?” This question leapt out of my laptop screen just as I was winding down and calling it a night. It struck a chord. It is a question, perhaps differently phrased, that troubles me a lot, and I’m sure I’m not alone: …

TENSING RODRIGUES Karhade bramhan is indeed an enigma. It may be a good idea to explore the history of the group within the framework of the divisions of the bramhan in Brhatkomkan. Sahyadrikhand’s Karastr seems to have been derived from Karhatak, the old name of the region around the confluence of the Krsna and Koyna rivers; it seems to have …

Barkha Dutt The decision by the Supreme Court to send the Sabarimala case to a larger constitutional bench is disappointing. While there is no formal stay on the entry of women into the shrine – the restrictions were lifted by a 2018 court order that will now be reviewed – ferocious and violent protests and political pussyfooting means that an …